Caught
by xzx583
Summary: A two shot about an awkward interaction between Clarisse, Chris, Annabeth and Percy, where Annabeth realizes just how much Clarisse has gone through.
1. Chapter 1

**This was inspired by a piece by Thatu on deviantart, titled "LH- Clarisse likes to Win". Go check it out! **

"Hey Percy, have you seen Clarisse anywhere?"

Percy looked up from his pancakes and squinted at me in the morning light of the sun, "Um, no? I haven't seen her since yesterday. Why?"

I sighed. "Well, she was supposed to have the day off today, but I need someone to teach the junior spear fighting class. Sherman is in the infirmary with a concussion."

Percy snorted, "That's a shock. What'd he do this time, pick a fight with a giant?"

"Not funny. He fell off the climbing wall, and now I have to tell Clarisse that her day off is going to be spent teaching 6-8 year olds which side of the spear to kill the monsters with."

Percy laughed again, then got up from his table and stretched, "That I'd love to see. So Wisegirl, seeing as she's not in the dining pavilion, want to go check the arena? There's a 99% chance she's either there or in her cabin."

"That's where I was going. She's probably hacking up dummies or sparring with Chris."

He grinned at me as we started our walk to the arena, "Oh yeah, because she's definitely _sparring_ whenever she sneaks off with her boyfriend."

I rolled my eyes and punched his shoulder, "Could you actually see them doing anything else? Clarisse isn't exactly the most romantic of girls."

"She doesn't have to be romantic, Wisegirl."

I chose to ignore him for the rest of the walk. When we got to the arena, there were a few Hermes campers goofing off there, but no Clarisse. I called over Travis and Connor and asked them if they knew where she was.

"Nope. Haven't seen any Ares campers for a few days. Didn't they all go home for a break after the war?" Travis asked.

"I think all except Clarisse went home. Actually, she was _supposed_ to have a break today, but Chiron needs her to teach a class." I replied. They smirked.

"Oh, she's gonna _love _that. I hope you have your dagger ready." Connor remarked, before going back to hitting his brother with a dummy's hacked-off limb.

Percy turned towards me, shrugged, then pointed in the direction of the cabins and shouted, "To the Ares cabin!"

Sighing, I followed him. When we got to the cabins, I knocked on the door of number 5 and waited for a response. Nothing.

"See if the door is locked." Percy told me. Technically we're not supposed to be in any cabin but our own, but that rule gets broken all the time. I can only hope that Ares does not send his wrath down upon me for daring to enter the sacred house of his children. Pushing open the door, I stick my head inside and do a 360 degree scan. It looks like there's someone in the bed in the corner farthest from the door. As I'm about to yell at Clarisse to wake up, I stop, my eyes widening.

Oh.

Oh _wow. _

"Is she in there, Annabeth?" Percy pushes through the doorway and stands next to an ancient mace hanging on the wall. Looking around, his eyes come to rest on the occupied bed.

"Oh wow." Percy whispers, seemingly reading my mind. But there's really nothing else to say. For there, in the bed, is Clarisse.

But she's not the only one.

Chris is lying next to her. They're curled up together, and it seems they've been that way for a while. Clarisse is lying with her head on Chris's chest, his arm circling her waist. It's actually kind of cute, in a way. Then I see that the bedsheet is covering both of them, and my second thought (after that and the very articulate _oh wow_) is that I _really _hope they have clothes on under that. Because it's not awkward enough as it is.

While I was processing this whole situation, Percy just stood there, jaw dropped.

I tried to quietly slip out of the doorway so as not to disturb the couple. I figure that if I actually try to wake them up, Clarisse will come after Percy and I with her spear, and getting hit with 10,000 volts in the morning doesn't sound that great. Of course Percy, being the tactful guy that he is, does not realize this. As soon as he gets over the shock, he opens his mouth even wider and yells at a volume that Hades will probably be complaining about.

"Woah! What's going on here!?"

Chris promptly rolls over and falls out of the bed (thankfully wearing pajamas) while Clarisse covers her ears and glares at Percy with as much animosity as one can muster after just being woken up. She growls at Percy, "What are you doing here, punk? This cabin is for Ares children only!"

"Then what's _he_ doing here!" Percy points at Chris accusingly, who seems to have been stunned by his fall. Pausing, then making a disgusted face, he adds, "Actually, I think it's better if you keep that to yourself, because I really don't want to know."

"Punk!" Clarisse rips the covers off of her and storms over to Percy, "It's not what you think!"

My presence seems to have been overlooked, so I cough quietly. Her head swivels in my direction, and a new look crosses her face. Is that… fear? She grits her teeth, then continues, "Look, we weren't _doing_ anything, alright?"

Percy snorts. "So you just spent the night together, two people who are _in a relationship_, and you just _slept_?"

She shrugs, "Pretty much."

Percy looks over at Chris, who is still lying on the floor. "Dude, you got no game."

Clarisse looked positively murderous at this point, and I realize that this is the perfect time to step in, "Percy, go outside. You too Chris. I want to speak to Clarisse."

Percy looked at me confused, but walked out the door. Chris glanced at his girlfriend, then jumped off the floor and raced outside, closing the door behind him.

I turned towards Clarisse and raised an eyebrow, but before I could get a word in she started talking.

"Look, please don't tell Chiron. It's not like we actually did anything. Plus, I know for a fact that you've been spending nights in Prissy's cabin."

I felt myself blushing. "First off, I'm not going to tell Chiron. Second, I think everyone knows I've been sleeping in Percy's cabin. We went through Tartarus together! I've had nightmares about that place every night since we were rescued! If Percy wasn't there, I'd probably already have gone insane!"

Clarisse looks at me with a mix of anger and sadness. "You'd have gone crazy, huh?"

"Yeah! So I don't think you spending a night with your boyfriend is the same as me spending a night with mine!"

"You're right, it's not." I thought I had won this argument and Clarisse would back down, but now she looked even angrier than before. "Because Chris already went crazy! You've been to Tartarus? How do you think he felt in the Labyrinth?"

I had another moment of shock. I had never even thought about the possibility that anyone would understand what I was going through, much less _Clarisse_. But she and Chris had both been down in the Labyrinth. She had to try to save Chris from his own mind. Also, she had to deal with the boy she liked disappearing for a year and not remembering who she was. It all sounds very familiar.

"So Chris is still having nightmares?" I ask, still thinking about how our fates were so similar. Clarisse rolls her eyes, "Annabeth, _I _still have nightmares, and I was in that place for a fraction of the time Chris was. He's been coming to my cabin in the middle of the night, shaking and practically sobbing from the memories." She narrowed her eyes and glared at me, "But you'd better keep that to yourself."

Just then we heard a knock at the door and Chris's voice saying, "Um, guys, I know you're probably having some heart to heart girly chat or whatever, but Percy's convinced that you guys are gonna kill each other if we leave you in there for too long. So can we come in?"

Clarisse grabs the handle and wrenches the door open, revealing an awkward looking Chris. Percy looks over his shoulder to make sure we haven't destroyed the place. Satisfied, he looks at me with his _can we go now?_ face. I nod, then face Clarisse.

"Chiron just wanted me to tell you that you have to take over the weapons class today because Sherman is in the infirmary."

She nods in response, then slams the door once Chris scrambles into the cabin. I join Percy, who has already started walking away. Immediately he starts chattering excitedly, "Oh my Gods! I don't think I'll ever go in _again _unannounced. But did you see the look on Clarisse's face? And when Chris fell out of that bed? Oh man, I can't wait to tell Grover about this…"


	2. The Night Before

**The second part is finally up. Thanks to all my reviewers, **_**xXxJaceInWonderlandxXx**_**, **_**LifeguardedWarehous**__e, _**and**_** ChaserMoonstone.**_**And very special thanks to **_**The First Maraudette**_**for being awesome and motivating me to continue. Enjoy. **

Let me tell you right off the bat; being an Ares child is hard. Yes, there is the problem of the demanding dad, and the fact that everyone who's not in your cabin thinks that you're a sociopath. But really, the worst part about being an Ares kid is the weapons. First, we learn to use them. Next, we have to teach everyone else how to use them, and try to act surprised when they inevitably fail. If you're lucky, you get to go on a quest and use your weapons to kill monsters (which, amazingly, is their whole purpose). But even if that happens, you still have to come back to camp and teach all the newbies how to hold a sword.

Yeah, the weapons lessons are definitely the worst part of being an Ares camper. So I was not in the best mood after finishing up my last class of the day, beginner's swordplay. I was actually in a worse mood than usual because some kid had sliced my finger open as he was sparring. It wasn't that big a deal, but it still hurt like Hades.

Stomping over to the shower cabin, I had hoped to find a towel and an empty stall. What I found instead was Chris Rodriguez.

"Hello beautiful" he grinned, placing his arm around my shoulders and kissing my cheek. I pushed him away, blushing slightly. "Don't" I warn, "I'm all sweaty and gross."

He and I both know that it's just an excuse for me not to touch him. He knows how embarrassed PDA makes me, which is probably why he always does it.

"You're also bloody it seems." He lifts my hand carefully, inspecting my cut finger. He kisses it softly, then looks up at me, "All better?"

I tear my hand away, blush deepening. He is very lucky that there are no other campers here, especially any Ares campers. If there were, I would have to beat him up to show that I wasn't going soft. It's one thing to date someone, it's another thing to show affection to that person in front of your cabin mates.

Chris grins again and produces a bandage from gods knows where. Stuffing the wrapper into his pocket, he wraps it around my finger.

"Thanks" I mutter.

"Anything for you dear." He looks down at me, still grinning. Well, it's really more like a smirk. I haven't decided yet if it's cute or annoying.

Just then the conch horn sounds for dinner. Sighing, I realize I haven't taken a shower yet and would either have to stink up the dining pavilion or forgo dinner. Chris seems to read my mind.

"I'll save you a plate." He gives me a quick kiss and starts walking towards the dining pavilion, "See you later!"

"Yeah. And thanks again." I smile, then head to the showers.

"Clarisse?"

I roll onto my stomach, looking at my alarm clock. 11:30. Exactly on time, as usual. I jump out of bed and open the door. Waiting outside is Chris, looking sheepish. I step aside, and he makes a beeline for my bed. Once he's comfortable, he pats the spot next to him, inviting me to join him. Sometimes I think he forgets that it's _my_ cabin. Nevertheless, I pull back the covers and lie down, feeling his arms wrap around my waist.

"Goodnight Clary."

"Night Chris." I reply, not even bothering to comment on the nickname. I shut my eyes and try to relax. But before I can go to sleep, I think of something.

"Chris." I hiss, elbowing his side with a little more force than necessary.

"Hmm?" he mumbles.

"You realize we can't keep doing this, right? I mean, the only reason you've been able to sleep in here is because my siblings took a break after the war. But once they come back, you're gonna have to stick it out in your own cabin." I pause, wondering if I should even ask this next part, "Why do you even come here?"

His grip around me tightens, "It's the nightmares, Clary. You know that."

"Yeah, but there's a whole bunch of people in your cabin. Couldn't some of them help you with this?"

He chuckled, "So you want me cuddling up to Connor or Travis? Clary, being surrounded by people does nothing to help. Actually, the cabin's pretty cramped, so being close to someone doesn't help either. Unless it's you."

I don't know why, but all of a sudden I started feeling really warm.

"But why only me?" I asked, voice barely a whisper. He shrugged.

"Why? Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe it's 'cuz you were the first person I saw after I got out of that hellish maze, or maybe it's 'cuz you saved me. You helped me when I needed it most. I'm guessing loving you doesn't hurt either." he shrugged again, "All I know is that sharing a bed with you drives the nightmares away, and I'm betting it's _much_ better than sharing with Travis or Connor."

"I would hope so." I snort, trying to ignore the warm feeling spreading through me. We almost never talk about mushy stuff like feelings, and talking about the Labyrinth is a big no-no. I also try to avoid the topic of his nightmares. All demigods have dreams that can be rather unpleasant, but I don't even want to try and see what goes on in Chris's head after dark. The first night he came to my cabin, we didn't talk much. He asked if he could stay the night, and since he looked like he was gonna break down in tears and my cabin was empty, I let him. The next morning, I asked him why he had come. He just hugged me and said "Labyrinth nightmares." I didn't ask anything else.

He's been coming every night since then. Technically it's breaking camp rules, but Chiron's been pretty lenient with Chris since he went crazy, so we only have to worry about siblings and parents. Well, the gods have been out partying since the end of the war, so our siblings are the only ones we need to worry about. Really, only my siblings would cause trouble. If the Hermes campers found out about us, they'd joke about it. The Ares campers would use Chris as a training dummy. They might even tell dad, who would take a break from partying with the mortals to raise Chris from the dead and put a spear through his head.

This is why I hate sharing a cabin with so many other people. There's absolutely no privacy. Prissy gets a place all to himself (and Owl Girl, whenever she goes over) while I have to share with over a dozen other kids who love weapons more than people. And if dad's really partying with the mortals, the cabin's gonna be really crowded in a few years.

Groaning, I turn onto my side, facing Chris. He's already asleep, snoring away. I lay my head on his chest and close my eyes. All is well until morning.


End file.
